Sights near Stratford

car or train?

what sort of things do you like to see?

which season?

mobility issues at all?

Car, spending couple of months with three of those weeks in Ireland, so will cover the country fairly well. Already been to London. Like history and architecture.

Its a long way to Ludlow especially as Warwick and Kenilworth castles are nearby
There are also National Trust Properties, Charlecote Park, Upton House, Baddesley Clinton, Packwood House. Coughton Court and Hidcote Gardens within 15 miles with Snowshill Manor on the edge of the Cotswolds only a mile or two further away

My first thought was Stratford in London, but seeing the rest of your post, presumably you mean Stratford upon Avon? It’s advisable not to abbreviate places or you may find yourselves miles from where you want to be!

At least with no theatre performances, you are spared a numb bum after sitting on a hard seat for hours. There are lots of great NT places around there, as has already been highlighted including my favourite garden, Hidcote. I wouldn’t travel miles to see Ludlow Castle.

rogerbrownwarwick is right.

Baddesley Clinton by the way is a moated (with fish and ducks) manor house with a real history.

Kenilworth (ruined yes) is a real genuine castle and very close to Stratford upon Avon which English Heritage have both preserved as it was but also made it a great visit. By the way, the "upon Avon", like many other British names for things, is important. There are a lot of towns, roads and other places with similar names, and the modifiers really mean a lot. I needed to read the post to get the context. When I opened it I thought you would be asking about Stratford, the east London site of the most recent London Olympics which also has a huge Westfield mall and the huge sculpture on the Olympics site, as well as the Lea River watersport areas.

Nevertheless I used to live just down the road from Stratford upon Avon and worked there and Royal Leamington Spa. Roger's list is pretty good.

Warwick Castle (right in the middle of old Warwick) is the real deal and looks just like it would have done hundreds of years ago. Run now by the same folks who among other places run Madame Tussauds, it is full of stuff to keep kids and parents happy so some accuse it of being an amusement park. But it actually is the real thing - the views are the real thing and the walls are the real thing. In a fabulous setting....

Jennifer has named the best garden around, Hidcote. Next to Chipping Campden. Just a few minutes from Stratford upon Avon.

We were writing at the same time...

Thank all of you for the assistance. From your suggestions we can certainly spend a day closer than Ludlow.

If you like Neolithic sites, there are the The Rollright Stones in Chipping Norton. Bletchley Park is just over an hour away.

I assume you will be doing the assorted Shakespeare properties along with the church and schoolroom? You can also do a boat trip on the river.

For something quirky and different there is the MECHANICAL ART AND DESIGN MUSEUM, affectionately referred to as MAD. This is the only one permanent exhibition of its kind in the UK with mechanical model displays and interactive pieces of Mechanical Art. Summed up on the website “If you’re not quite sure what mechanical art is all about, think of the machines and gismos used in Wallace and Gromit, Scrapheap Challenge and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In a nut shell mechanical art is usually beautifully crafted, moving sculptures either made to have an exaggerated purpose or made simply for the fun of it.”

https://themadmuseum.co.uk/

If you go to Hidcote Gardens, check out Kiftsgate Court Gardens too. and if they are open. They are very close to Hidcote and very different.

http://www.kiftsgate.co.uk/

BAddesley Clinton with its moat is lovely and well worth visiting.